[Title]
The Cow and the Moon
[Alternate Title]
[Akkadian Title]
[Translation]
Incantation.
There was once a cow of the Moon: her name was Geme-Suen (Maid of the Moon). She was adorned with adornment and charming of figure. The Moon saw her and loved her. He provided her with shining ... He had her take the lead of her herd, the cowherds following behind. He grazed her on the moistest grasses, he(!) watered her at the sweetest(?) watering places. Hidden from the herdsboys, out of sight of the cowherds, a fierce young bull sprang on to the cow, he arose at her tail.
When her days were complete, her months at an end, the cow shuddered and frightened her cowherd. He hung his head and all the herdsboys beat their breasts for him. At her crying, at her yelling in labour, he was prostrate.
In the sky Nannaru the Moon heard her yelling, he lifted his hands to the heavens. Two angels of heaven came down, the one bearing oil from the jar, the other bringing down ‘water of labour'. With the oil from the jar she daubed her forehead, the ‘water of labour' she sprinkled all over her body. A second time with the oil from the jar she daubed her forehead, the ‘water of labour' she sprinkled all over her body. At the third daubing the calf fell out on the ground like a gazelle. She called its name Milk Calf.
Just as Geme-Suen gave birth successfully, so let this woman suffering a difficult labour give birth. Let not the midwife be detained (any longer), let the pregnant woman be delivered!
[Explanatory Notes]
[Publication]
[Publisher URL]
[Source]
BAM 248 iii 10-35
[Date]
First millennium BC
[Language]
Akkadian
[Medium]
clay tablet
[Find Spot]
Ashur
[]
Narratives featuring deities
----------------------------------------
[Title]
She has never given birth
[Alternate Title]
[Akkadian Title]
[Translation]
The cow was pregnant, the cow is giving birth, ~(1)
In the paddock of Shamash, the pen of Shamkan.[1]
When he saw her, Shamash began to cry,
When the Pure-rited[2] One saw her, his tears were
~~flowing down.
Why is Shamash crying,
Why are the Pure-rited One's tears flowing down?
"For the sake of my cow, who had never been breeched!"*
"For the sake of my kid, who had never given birth!"* ~(10)
Whom shall I [send with an order to the
~~the daught]er(s) of Anu, seven [and seven],[3]
[May] they [ ] their pots of [ ],
May they bring this baby straight forth!*~(15)
If it be male, like a wild ram,* ~
If it be female, like a wild cow(?) may it come into the world.[4]
(Incantation for a woman in labor)
[Explanatory Notes]
[1] Shamkan, the cattle-god, was the son of Shamash (van Dijk, OrNS 41 [1972], 344; Cavigneaux in Abusch, ed., Magic, 261–264); Stol (Birth in Babylonia, 64) suggests that the line means the woman is in Larsa, which had an important temple of Shamash.<br />[2] An epithet of the moon.<br />[3] Compare II.23a, d.<br />[4] Literally: “falls toward the ground,” as Babylonian women often gave birth in a seated position.<br /><br />Translation: Stol, Birth in Babylonia, 64.<br />
[Publication]
Benjamin R. Foster, Before the Muses, 3rd edition; 2005, (p. 170)
[Publisher URL]
http://www.cdlpress.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=23&products_id=54
[Source]
Text: van Dijk, VAS 17 34; Edition: van Dijk, OrNS 41 (1972), 343–348.
[Date]
[Language]
[Medium]
[Find Spot]
[]
Narratives featuring deities
----------------------------------------